Tuesday, November 22, 2011

This flavorful, healthy side dish, which calls for just 2 Tablespoons of butter and 2 Tablespoons of milk or cream, is low fat, low carb, easy to make, and really hard to stop eating. You can dress it up in all sorts of ways—with sour cream and dill, cheddar and chives, even lemon juice and baby arugula—or just enjoy it plain.

"I've decided that the cauliflower must go through some sort of magical transformation when it's puréed, bringing out more of the flavor."

"I think maybe it's the garlic."

"I think I should have cooked both heads of cauliflower."

Until I discovered and fell in love with kohlrabi purée several years ago, the only vegetables I'd mashed up were potatoes and things with the potatoes, like carrots and turnips (both of these combinations are wonderful). But it turns out there's a whole delicious world of versatile vegetable purées out there. My food processor is my new best friend.

One of the most popular puréed vegetables is cauliflower, which is often called mashed cauliflower and is usually touted as a low carb substitute for mashed potatoes, especially around Thanksgiving. But this really isn't fair to the cauliflower purée. It tastes so good it shouldn't be considered a stand-in or alternative to anything.

If you have trouble eating enough fresh vegetables in autumn and winter, try puréeing them. They taste great, and the volume really shrinks down. I had no idea it was so easy to devour an entire head of cauliflower. I've eaten more cauliflower in the past three years I have than during the rest of my entire life.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

There's nothing like homemade bread for the holidays!From easy but impressive quick breads to yeasty little rolls that make great leftover turkey sandwiches, these nine favorite recipes from the Farmgirl Fare archives will have everyone singing your praises throughout Thanksgiving weekend, and your kitchen will smell divine while they're baking. The scones, rolls, muffins, and Italian rosemary raisin bread all freeze beautifully, too. Enjoy!

I created these Savory Cheese and Scallion Scones with Feta during a 1993 scone craving when there was no butter in the house, and they've become one of my most popular recipes. Made with softened cream cheese in place of the butter, they mix up quickly and always garner rave reviews. I love the leftovers split in half, toasted, and made into little cream cheese and ham or turkey sandwiches.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Because we live so far from everything (10 miles to the post office to get our mail, 17 miles to an itty bitty library, 40 miles to a big supermarket, 90 miles to Lowe's), unless it's an emergency, we never leave the farm for just one thing.

During today's seven hour outing we made 11 stops, which was actually on the low side (and we only forgot three four things!). We never travel without snacks, sandwiches, jugs of water, and emergency miniature candy bars.

The chickens, on the other hand (foot?), just have to look down and peck for their lunch—though of course they also never have to leave the farm. Lucky clucks.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Firearm deer season opens tomorrow. All around the area, hearty community breakfasts will start being served at 3:30 am. Businesses will be closed or short-staffed all week, and the kids are off from school. Vacation days from work were scheduled months ago, and campers and RVs have been parked in favorite hunting spots for days.

The small local meat processor, located five miles outside a town of 325, will take in something like 600 deer over the next week and a half—and those are just the ones hunters don't process themselves.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

There's no doubt about it—farm dogs love stinky stuff. There's nothing like relaxing on a giant pile of aged sheep manure! So when I pulled an icky vet wrap bandage off a ewe's hoof yesterday and tossed it into an old wheelbarrow (where it would be out of reach of the dogs) while we finished chores, it was no surprise that beagle Bert sniffed it out in seconds.